LONDON: Hotel accommodation in the UK occupied by at-risk Afghan refugees will be vacated to make room for migrants who cross the English Channel using small boats, The Guardian reported.
The Afghan former interpreters and soldiers, who were evacuated to the UK in the wake of the Taliban takeover, were warned that next month they would be evicted from their accommodation.
But the thousands of rooms they occupy will continue to be paid for by British taxpayers, with the government financing 5,000 beds to potentially house new boat arrivals this summer and autumn.
So far this year, around 13,000 people have entered Britain by crossing the Channel. Ministers fear a surge in arrivals during the coming months.
MPs were told by UK Home Office officials last week that the government, using taxpayer money, was continuing to pay for the hotel beds to house asylum seekers and ease overcrowding at detention centers.
The Guardian reported that at least three hotels housing some of the 8,000 Afghans will be open to small-boat arrivals.
The issue is complicated further by the fact that some of those arriving by boat are of Afghan origin, including people who were accepted by the UK’s official relocation scheme for Afghanistan.
Labour Party councilor, Peymana Assad, said: “Afghans are now at risk of homelessness come the eviction date and, what is worse, is that those coming on the small boats are eligible Afghan refugees or already have Arap (Afghan relocations and assistance policy) acceptance letters.
“The government’s continued refusal to provide safe routes for asylum for Afghans like they did for Ukraine is what is driving vulnerable Afghans onto boats. What they are doing is effectively pitting Afghan refugees against Afghan refugees.”
Other critics of the move have raised concerns that the evictions would lead to a misconception that the Afghan refugees had arrived in the UK illegally.
Conservative Friends of Afghanistan director, Shabnam Nasimi, said: “It is clear that the government is trying to find a way to deal with the small-boat crisis. But this response is wrong and adds to the misconception that people who were invited here from Afghanistan are here illegally.”
Local councils throughout the country have warned that many of the Afghans, if evicted, could be made homeless because of Britain’s housing crisis.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Hotels are not, and were never designed to be, long-term accommodation for Afghans resettled in the UK and it is not in their best interests to be living in hotel accommodation for months or years on end.
“That is why we have announced a plan, backed by £285 million ($368 million) of new funding, to speed up the resettlement of Afghan nationals into long-term homes.
“Extensive government support is available, and we will continue to do all we can to help Afghan families as they rebuild their lives here.”
